Pesto Trapanese Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

What is trapanese pesto made of? ›

It has a lot in common with the Ligurian pesto—it's rich with nuts, basil, olive oil, garlic, and cheese. But the nuts are almonds, not pine nuts, and there's an additional ingredient that transforms the sauce into something even lighter and more refreshing: tomatoes.

Properly made pesto tastes fresh and zingy and balanced, not muddy. Each flavor component is identifiable—the fragrant basil, the pungent garlic, the buttery olive oil and sweet pine nuts, the tangy cheeses—and yet none dominates. Basil is the star, for sure, but its perfume works in balance with the other ingredients.

Pesto is traditionally served with trofie or trenette pasta or potato gnocchi, but you can serve it with whatever type of pasta you prefer, long or short. Just remember that the pasta should be rather thick enough to stand up to the aromatic nature of the pesto.

Pesto (Italian: [ˈpesto]) is a paste that traditionally consists of crushed garlic, European pine nuts, coarse salt, basil leaves, and hard cheese such as Parmesan or pecorino sardo (cheese made from sheep's milk), all blended with olive oil. It originated in Genoa, the capital city of Liguria, Italy.

Pesto alla Trapanese

What makes it different from Pesto alla Genovese is that it uses almonds as opposed to pine nuts, and gets finished with fresh tomatoes, which are bountiful in the south. In Sicily, they use the Pachino tomato, which are small, sweet, and similar to cherry tomatoes.

Trapanese is an Italian surname, meaning literally "Trapanese", "from the city of Trapani or "from the province of Trapani" and may refer to: Joseph Trapanese (born 1984), American composer. Rita Trapanese (1951–2000), Italian figure skater.

The most common reason for pesto tasting bitter is that the olive oil is past its best and has started to turn rancid. If the pesto has been made in a food processor or blender, there's also the possibility that it has turned bitter from the crude, sheering action of the blades.

Anything sugary will work: granulated white sugar, honey, fruit juices, even sweet dessert wines. Acid in the form of vinegar or citrus juices can make a pesto taste less bitter and could even enhance the flavour of the sauce at the same time.

“Extra-virgin olive oil contains bitter tasting polyphenols coated by fatty acids, which prevent them from dispersing. If the oil is emulsified in a food processor, these polyphenols get squeezed out and the liquid mix turns bitter.

While your pesto can safely reside in your pantry until its first use, forgetting to refrigerate it after opening is guaranteed to spoil it long before the five-day mark. It's also best to seal and refrigerate your jar of sauce right after using, as exposure to oxygen can speed up the spoiling process.

How long does pesto last in the fridge? ›

Once opened, a jar of pesto lasts in the fridge for three days without any dramatic loss of quality. It will be perfectly safe for another two days, but leave it any longer, and its quality will decline to the point that it will no longer be enjoyable to eat.

This fresh and fragrant pasta sauce is served uncooked, so choose a pasta shape that won't overwhelm it. Similar to oil-based sauces, pesto is served best with longer cuts of pasta, like the corkscrew shape of Fusilli. Pesto works best with Bucatini, Capellini, thinner Spaghettini, and Fettuccine.

Italian pine nuts are considered the finest in the world and are therefore eye-wateringly expensive. To make cost savings, many big producers source their pine nuts from China. Not a big issue, you might think, but these pine nuts are notorious for leaving a metallic aftertaste for some people, and that can last weeks.

Because its ingredients include olive oil, nuts, and cheese, pesto can be high in calories and fat. However, the fat is primarily unsaturated and may have heart health benefits. Pesto is also full of antioxidants that can help protect your cells from damage.

The Bottom Line

Pesto is higher in calories than some sauces but it's also made with super-healthy ingredients, like basil, olive oil and nuts. I find it's a great way to add more flavor to pasta dishes and even vegetables and proteins.

With origins in Sicily, pesto alla trapanese is a delicious result of cross-cultural cuisine and a flavorful way to make use of fresh summer produce. Dating back to Italy's maritime past, Ligurian sailors would arrive home at the port of Trapani in Sicily after lengthy travels through Eastern Asia.

A bit of history

In the past, Genoese ships stopped at the port of Trapani, bringing the tradition of the Ligurian agliata, made with garlic and walnuts. From this recipe, what we now know as Trapanese pesto was developed by Trapani sailors using the products of their land, tomatoes, and almonds.

According to witty food writer Rachel Roddy, Pesto alla Trapanese was created by homesick Genovese sailors docked in Trapani, Sicily who adapted their classic basil pesto recipe to include locally available ingredients: almonds and tomatoes. Traditionally, Pesto alla Trapanese is made with a mortar and pestle.